Tag Archives: Darynda Jones

YIPPEE! YIPPEE! A new Charley Davidson book by Darynda Jones. If you have not read her series, start now.

What a great week ahead with spectacular releases. In addition to Darynda Jones, a new Jennifer L. Armentrout release, a marvelous biography and something inspirational. Enjoy!

Seventh Grave and No Body (Charley Davidson Series) by Darynda Jones. Available October 21, 2014. Twelve. Twelve of the deadliest beasts ever forged in the fires of hell have escaped onto our plane, and they want nothing more than to rip out the jugular of Charley Davidson and serve her lifeless, mangled body to Satan for dinner.

So there’s that. But Charley has more on her plate than a mob of testy hellhounds. For one thing, her father has disappeared, and the more she retraces his last steps, the more she learns he was conducting an investigation of his own, one that has Charley questioning everything she’s ever known about him. Add to that an ex-BFF who is haunting her night and day, a rash of suicides that has authorities baffled, and a drop-dead sexy fiancé who has attracted the attentions of a local celebrity, and Charley is not having the best week of her life. But all of that combined barely scratches the surface of her problems.

Recent developments—and a few distressing prophesies—have forced her to become a responsible adult. Exactly the kind of adult she’s never aspired to be. To conquer such a monumental task, she’s decided to start small. Really small. She gets a pet. But how can she save the world against the forces of evil when she can’t even keep a goldfish alive?

A tad north of hell, a hop, skip, and a jump past the realm of eternity, is a little place called Earth, and Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is determined to do everything in her power to protect it. We’re doomed.

It should come as No Surprise that I am an Animal Advocate, a vegetarian as part of my cruelty free lifestyle and I Love Dogs! I love books about dogs and photos of dogs, and dogs!DogFace by Barbara O’Brien. Available October 21, 2014. Adorable four-color candid doggie mug shots.

Photographer and animal trainer Barbara O’Brien has spent years photographing aspiring canine actors, from prancing puppies to stately hounds and tenacious terriers. At first, she discarded the photos if her subject was barking, sniffing, or otherwise looking less than perfect—until she realized that those outtakes best revealed the true personality of the pup.

O’Brien is a skilled and seasoned photographer, and this winsome collection shows the care she took to reveal each dog’s essential character. The goofiness of the boisterous Border Collie, the decorum of the genteel Great Dane, and the curiosity of the regal Corgi—all of them are captured here in gorgeous four-color photography.

Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements Book 2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Available October 21, 2014. Every touch has its price. Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss.

The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.

But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden.

Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay.

I like non-fiction. Here is a book that brings a new perspective to Queen Victoria. This is a hefty book, 624 pages, but then Victoria ruled for 64 years. Pick up this excellent read, learn, enjoy and build muscles.

Victoria: A Life by A.N.Wilson. Available October 23, 2014. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, she had ruled for nearly sixty-four years. She was a mother of nine and grandmother of forty-two and the matriarch of royal Europe through her children’s marriages. To many, Queen Victoria is a ruler shrouded in myth and mystique, an aging, stiff widow paraded as the figurehead to an all-male imperial enterprise.

But in truth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch was one of the most passionate, expressive, humorous and unconventional women who ever lived, and the story of her life continues to fascinate.

A. N. Wilson’s exhaustively researched and definitive biography includes a wealth of new material from previously unseen sources to show us Queen Victoria as she’s never been seen before. Wilson explores the curious set of circumstances that led to Victoria’s coronation, her strange and isolated childhood, her passionate marriage to Prince Albert and his pivotal influence even after death and her widowhood and subsequent intimate friendship with her Highland servant John Brown, all set against the backdrop of this momentous epoch in Britain’s history—and the world’s.

Born at the very moment of the expansion of British political and commercial power across the globe, Victoria went on to chart a unique course for her country even as she became the matriarch of nearly every great dynasty of Europe. Her destiny was thus interwoven with those of millions of people—not just in Europe but in the ever-expanding empire that Britain was becoming throughout the nineteenth century. The famed queen had a face that adorned postage stamps, banners, statues and busts all over the known world.

Wilson’s Victoria is a towering achievement, a masterpiece of biography by a writer at the height of his powers.

The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell YOU by Mike Dooley. Available October 21, 2014. From the afterlife—a new perspective on your life. “I know this may come as a shock, and you know I’m not fond of using stale one-liners, but—‘reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.’ I’m as alive now as I was on the day we met, except, maybe, more so.”

If the dead could speak, don’t you wonder what they would say to those of us they’ve left behind? What would they tell us to soothe our sorrow for their loss, calm our fears of what happens when we die, and fire us up to live the best possible lives we can right now?

In pages filled with wisdom, humor, and, yes, joy, New York Times best-selling author Mike Dooley explores our most pressing and profound questions about the afterlife—and this life—from the fresh perspective of those who have made the transition to the next phase.

Among the revelations and insights they share:

We were ready; you are not.

We’re sorry for any pain we may have caused.

Your pets are just as crazy, brilliant, and loving here as they were there.

Nothing we say can prepare you for the beauty of the moment you arrive.

You’ll learn that our loved ones are not lost to us; that our time on earth is both a school and an adventure; that, all appearances to the contrary, life truly is fair; and that we have it in us to reshape our own fortunes, starting today.

And now for a little Halloween.

by Natasha Wing (Author), Cynthia Fisher (Illustrator).

“‘Twas the night before Halloween, and all through the house, All the creatures were stirring, except for the mouse. The monsters had gathered to plan and prepare, For the trick-or-treaters who soon would be there?”

Little monsters and goofy goblins take center stage in this silly, spooky spin on Clement C. Moore’s beloved poem. But what will happen on Halloween when the monsters come face to face with human trick-or-treaters in this fun-filled book by the author of The Night Before Easter?